And it's over....
So, here we are. The end of of a huge Marvel crossover that led directly into Heroes Reborn. (And maybe even was created solely for that purpose?) This thing went back a few years if you count all the hints they were dropping - even if they hadn’t figured out the entire plot yet back then.
Fantastic Four #416 - Franklin’s attempts to get help manifest as bad guys because Onslaught mucks about with them. This issue has no progress on fighting Onslaught... Awesome personal growth for Ben Grimm. Dr Doom is so awesomely bad ass! I love the way he talks and the way he speaks. It’s so awesome whenever he’s there. And this plus FF signals at least twice that they’ve had to join forces. Slightly pointless other than to gather all the heroes at FF Tower as more and more super heroes keep dropping in.
X-Men #56 - We end up with strange bedfellows. Also, Rogue and Magneto continue to get close. This is kinda neat because it means that even though there are separate story reasons for why Rogue and Magneto are together in the current X-Men: Legacy story arc (starting at issue #250), it seems less contrived having read this storyline. Nate is added to Onslaught. AWESOME ending to that issue!
Marvel Onslaught Universe - awesome battle! Love the way it was narrated by Uatu. The climax was awesome! And so the non-X-Men die for Heroes Reborn. This is what makes me think that either Onslaught was always meant to lead to Heroes Reborn or was coopted into it partyway through. Why? Because, coincidentally, only non-mutants can go on the suicide mission and only non-mutants were getting rebooted. I guess that Franklin will probably bring them back since he can alter reality. (Also, that’s a crazy power to have. I’m curious how they keep it from being a balance breaker) Wow....there’s so much more to this volume....How much story could they have left to tell?
Cable #36 - dealing with Cable’s virus. Cool resolution and now he is reset for future issues.
Uncanny X-Men #337 - a bit of a pity party for Xavier. Haha, love that Creed is on Fox News. Also, looks like mutants are going to pay for Onslaught’s destruction. The politics are REALLY against them now in a way they never were before. Interesting that in Marvel parlance, The X-Men aren’t heroes. Heroes are the non-mutants. Love the way Beast Speaks. “A google thank yous” Love Cyclops, Ice Man, and Beast. It’s great to have some more normal home-stuff for once. It was a part of comics that I always liked. I mean, I think that a comic that was only about the home-life of super heroes would be an interesting deconstruction, but that’s not my ideal. It’s just that these guys are people, too so it’s nice to see issues where they just relax at home. (Especially after all they’ve been through) Some major fan service with Jean in her bathrobe! Love the lampshade hanging on Gambit’s trench coat. Also loved the line “Gambit? No I’m James.” Another hilarious lampshading. And a perfect ending.
X-Men #57 - Another pity fest kicks it off. Charles is to be arrested? Yay for Beast in Washington Square Park and what he does there. J Jonah Jameson standing up for mutants? Awesome! And Charles must go to be studied?
Onslaught: Epilogue - We find out what happened to Charles for accepting his fate. Let’s just say, it’s not what you thought. Pretty awesome overall.
Epilogue - and as I knew would happen, Franklin was the one that kept the heroes alive to come back to the 616 universe.
Great explanatory docs at the end. They do a good job explaining Onslaught’s motivation. I’d say that, from the comics in the collection, they were like 85% successful in getting that across. Unless they changed their mind partway through?
Overall, it was a GREAT set of stories. I really enjoyed seeing the X-Men and all the rest of the A and B-list Marvel characters go through that.